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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Discovering The Amulet

What follows is a semi-official work of fiction originally developed for TOY telling the story of how Heizinger came to posses the Patmos Amulet, I’ve translated it from the original French, and edited it for flow and better English style.

You can read the whole thing after the jump…

It’s really quite interesting…

DISCOVERING THE AMULET:

Patmos, September 2, 1949,

The room that interested the Marquis General Hermann Von Heïzinger covered the heart of the Patmos necropolis, and was last site to be occupied by one of his teams. It took two weeks of tough negotiations between the responsible "official" site commander, Professor Hans Kamler, and Captain van der Agerr, appointed by the Marquis to organize the dig site with the professor. During this time, the level where the mysterious room was remained as abandoned, as it had been for millennia. The insistence of Van der Agerr (and perhaps also the fear that the Marquis and his lieutenant Karl Zermann could inspire) had paid off: Kamler had assigned the Obscura Korps to excavate this latest find.

Van der Agerr sighed as he crushed his cigarette butt against his boot heel. Guarding these archaeologists was far from passion, and it had been a long time since he had last had seen the sun. He patted the shoulder of one of the soldiers who accompanied him to say he was going to take a break in the light of day, when they heard one of the scientists to a cry out in fear and surprise. The captain turned quickly, his hand on the butt of his MG42 "Spandau," but there was no apparent danger.

In the distance, van der Agerr saw the archaeologist fall backwards at the tomb of a knight that he had opened, where a strange blue light emanated from inside the tomb. When the captain came to see what it contained, he could not believe his eyes. Inside laid the body of a man, probably a knight under his clothes. However, the body of this man was more like that of someone died there two or three days instead of a thousand year old corpse. He held in his hands a two-handed sword decorated with strange inscriptions on the blade and was on his neck the fragment of a pendant which seemed older than the catacombs themselves. Without taking his eyes from the grave, van der Agerr spoke to one of the men:

"Go and get the general, tell him we’ve found what he wanted."

***

When he heard the news, General Von Heïzinger and Lieutenant Karl Zermann ran as fast as possible. The archaeologists had returned to work again, and began to study the inscriptions on the grave. The Marquis was overwhelmed with excitement when he saw the tomb and blue aura that filled the entire room. He approached van der Agerr, who had not moved since the discovery.

"Good job, Hauptmann,” said the marquis. “You have done well to send for me.”

But the marquis was not listening to what the captain said, nor did he pay attention to the archaeologists who worked in the room. Its whole mind was concentrated on the piece of pendant worn by the knight. He saw only the amulet, nothing else mattered.

“This is the object...” Karl said to the Marquis.

“This amulet, this power, is the key, I'm sure! Do you not feel it, Karl?”

“If this artifact has great power general,” said Zermann. “Then shouldn’t we wait for men to finish their study before we remove it?”

“No, Karl!” The Marquis went into a rage at the mere thought of having wait one second. “I must have it now!"

Von Heïzinger snatched the amulet from the knight's neck and felt the intense satisfaction success and the power of the artifact itself. Suddenly the ground shook under the feet of the team. The ground cracked throughout the room. The Marquis threw worried glances between the amulet and exit, but neither he nor the others had time to get out as the ground collapsed and they fell into the darkness below.

They landed a few meters down on the stone, van der Agerr went around to his men; everyone was fine, just a few bumps and bruises. Zermann helped the Marquis up. The general stood firmly the fragment of amulet clutched tightly in his hand. He looked at where they were. It was a crypt round, about two times larger than the room where they were above. There were huge rock pillars at each corner of the room. At its center, General could distinguish a huge block of stone. As he approached, he realized that it was sarcophagus even older than the graves they had saw previously, and it was strangely placed vertically. Stranger still it was kept sealed by several chains. The Marquis wanted it opened, but his lieutenant, felt a threatening presence:

"General, are you sure you want to open that?” said Zermann.

“Do not worry, Karl,” said the marquis. “We will enter history together!"

The Marquis took a step closer. Instinctively Zermann and van der Agerr gave discrete orders to their men to surround the sarcophagus. Suddenly, the amulet began to vibrate and the Marquis looked back. The hand that held the artifact was going against his will into the sarcophagus. Chains around it fell, and the sarcophagus opened. There was a cloud of smoke, and a figure came out. The Colossus had been imprisoned here for centuries, and it was so great and impressive that it inspired fear even in the minds of Heïzinger and Zermann. Its hands, which could easily have gripped two human heads were terminated by claws that seemed sharp as steel. When the devil finally opened his eyes red like blood, he looked first Zermann and van der Agerr, the soldiers around him, and archaeologists petrified with terror. Then it stared at the amulet and then Marquis. It groaned loudly before approaching him.

“You ...” The demon pointed to the Marquis with one of his claws. “Who are you to dare release Korgonagoss, and hope to control it with this amulet? You cannot rise against me, poor insects!"

The devil moved forward and struck the marquis, in a single fluid motion that seemed impossiable for such an ungainly beast. The marquis was thrown to the other end of the crypt. Van der Agerr and the soldiers fired, but their bullets did not faze Korgonagoss. He walked calmly over to the scientists, who were paralyzed by fear, and killed them all with a single swipe of his claws. With superhuman speed, he arrived behind one of the soldiers and beheaded him. Zermann fired a few shots from “Doom” which sparkled more than ever, then took the Marquis over his shoulder and cried towards Van der Agerr:

“Go with the general lieutenant!” Van der Agerr continued to fire at the demon with his MG42 to no avail. “We'll cover you! Climb out quickly!”

“You cannot run away!” Korgonagoss finally showing an emotion was mad with. “I will take the amulet, after drinking your blood!” he shouted.

The Schocktruppen regrouped in front of their captain and continued to fire to slow down the demon who walked, insensitive to pain and thinking only the amulet. Von Heïzinger came to his senses. At last he had before him a being of Underworld, but despite all the hopes he had had about the amulet, he could not control him ... He took one last look behind him as he climbed over the rubble, but it was only the disappointment of not being able to control the demon that could destroy the Union he felt; he overlooking the respect and sacrifice of his men, feeling no sympathy for them. Zermann had reached the top and held out his hand to the general, looking down he could see what had become a bloody arena.

With each step, Korgonagoss killed a soldier. He traced a path lined with cadavers before arriving at Van der Agerr. The captain fired all his ammunition. After his heavy weapon emptied, the devil smiled and gave him a blow to torso. His uniform was torn, and the captain found himself thrown against one of pillars of the crypt.

"I had not killed so long ... I think I'll have a little fun with you, before you take care of your master,” Korgonagoss said to the captain.

Van der Agerr was ready to die. He knew he had no chance against this monstrous beast. As he got up, he laid his hand on something cold. The captain took the object. It was the sword that was with the knight in his grave, and the inscriptions on the blade shone with a soft blue light. The captain took it. With a new force, van der Agerr felt that perhaps there was hope, and pointed the sword of the devil.

"I will not let you kill me so easily, demon,” says Van der Agerr. “A soldier of the Reich is anything but weak and a coward.”

“But you are a mortal,” Korgonagoss said, laughing. “Do you think this ridiculous toy can hurt me more than your gun?”

“There is only one way to find out ... Come and see for yourself!" The captain charged, and the devil Korgonagoss tried to hit van der Agerr who managed to dodge the blow, before planting the sword deep in the chest of the demon. Korgonagoss retreated, screaming in pain and surprise.

"How dare you! Hurting a servant of Nosféro! You will pay for this insult! I'll tear you apart!” shouted Korgonagoss.

“Sorry, but I have to go,” said the captain, “another time, perhaps!"

Van der Agerr took advantage of this singular weak moment and ran to the rubble. Before climbing, he turned and saw the demon coming towards him surrounded by a mysterious aura. The captain reached into his pockets, finding three grenades, he threw them at the pillars supporting the roof of the crypt. He climbed as quickly as possible, when grenades exploded, collapsing the rest of the room on the devil. Van der Agerr climbed to the top, and rolled into the galleries while the entire area collapsed behind him, sealing away the demon Korgonagoss. The captain got up, dusted himself off and lit a crumpled cigarette.

"I'm not ready to forget you, you," he said, examining the wound inflicted Korgonagoss it was slightly shining, not unlike the scars that covered Karl Zermann’s body.

***

At the exit of the catacombs von Heïzinger and Zermann were still being questioned by Kamler about what they had seen. Van der Agerr saw them joining. The Marquis and his lieutenant were surprised to see the captain alive.

"You're late, captain," the Marquis said ironically.

“I was very lucky to get out alive,” Herr General, said van der Agerr. “I managed to hurt him with this sword, and escape. Nearly all of the catacombs collapsed on him after I tossed him some grenades ... I think he’s quiet now.”

“It sounds like you are a true hero,” Hauptmann, said the marquis. “The Kaiser will be very happy, Van der Agerr, very happy indeed. I'll get you a medal for this; it’s at least worth a small medal that will beautifully decorate that uniform yours,” laughed Heïzinger.

“Thank you, General! It is an honor you do me!” said van der Agerr.

“It is quite normal in view of your achievements today, captain ... Wait a minute ... “von Heïzinger pointed to the captain’s injury, shining like the scars of Zermann. “How did you get that?”

“Good luck or a curse ... It is the study of this sword that will tell."

The car finally arrived for the Marquis, Zermann opened Von Heïzinger’s door and he sat in the back, Zermann joined him, closing the door. While the captain took his place next to the driver, the general still thought of van der Agerr. This brand ... is a sign of fate, I must keep an eye on the captain, he said. Then he took the amulet from his pocket and shivered as he felt the power contained therein. He smiled and slipped it back in. He was close to his goal and had only to decipher the clues of the amulet. Thus, he, Hermann von Heïzinger would be the first to discover and control the power of one four cardinal Obscure, and perhaps to become the new Reichdoktor the Obscura Korps ...

This was only a section of a larger document, and I hope I’ll be able to translate more later, but my French is quite poor, so it takes me a long time to do these.